In the News

Former Kent State golfer Ben Curtis starts foundation with wife

Former Kent State All-American golfer and current PGA touring pro Ben Curtis and his wife Candace, a Kent Roosevelt High School graduate, have developed a unique way to help needy youngsters in their hometown.

Ben and Candace, who currently reside in Kent along with their children Liam and Addison, have created The Ben Curtis Family Foundation "to make a positive change in the lives of children in our local communities," they said in a recent press release. "Our goal is to help meet the basic needs of children so that they can benefit from the education they are receiving."

With that goal in mind, the Curtis family is currently implementing a program called "Ben's Birdie Bags."

"We were watching a television show on hunger and it truly opened our eyes, so we started doing some research," they said. "We discovered this is a real problem in Northeast Ohio, more specifically in our hometown of Kent. Some families are forced to choose between paying bills and feeding their families. In the Kent School District alone, there are 753 kids on some sort of a subsidy lunch program -- for many this is often their only daily meal. We feel sending Birdie Bags home over long holiday weekends could make a difference for hungry children."

A "Ben's Birdie Bags" trial run was held on Memorial Day weekend and was a huge success, according to everyone involved.